Top 5 by Venus in Arms – week 17.

The dramatic crisis in Gaza is ongoing. Among several comments and op-eds, last week we focused on this alternative view regarding the widely debated Iron Dome. According to the MIT Professor Theodore Postol, the effectiveness of the system is overrated. Here and here you’ll find updated data and analyses on Iron Dome.

Apart from the ground war, IDF and Hamas are clashing also in terms of communication efforts. “The New York Times” provides an interesting account of such “struggle for domestic and international opinion”. In other words, a “clash of narratives” as a new level of propaganda war.

With the global attention devoted to the conflict in Palestine, we should not forget the worsening of security conditions in Libya. The website “Libya Body Count” well illustrates a war scenario: around 250 deaths only in July.

The F35 is a “hot issue” (and this is not a reference to the recent engine fire…) in the US. Here “The National Interest” highlights five possible ways to replace the JSF. Too late? The debate is still lively and controversial.

Finally, an Italian perspective. During the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Italy will coordinate EU policies leading to the negotiations of the new post-2015 development Agenda. If you are interested in development cooperation look at this website (in English) that shows a lot of data regarding Italian aid programmes.